TITLE:
Did “Screeners” Increase Pediatric Tuberculosis Case Notification in Sindh, Pakistan?
AUTHORS:
Afshan Khurshid, Sven Gudmund Hinderaker, Einar Heldal, Razia Fatima, Mahboobul Haq, Aashifa Yaqoob, Amanullah Ansari, Kashif Anwar, Ejaz Qadeer, Ajay M. V. Kumar
KEYWORDS:
Childhood Tuberculosis, Pediatricians, Screener, Xpert MTB/RIF, SORT IT
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Tuberculosis Research,
Vol.5 No.1,
March
29,
2017
ABSTRACT: To identify missing childhood Tuberculosis (TB) cases, “screeners” (hospital-based health workers trained to screen accompanying contacts of TB patients for symptoms) were introduced in eight tertiary care hospitals of Sindh, Pakistan in 2013. There was a 55% increase in childhood TB notifications in 2014 compared to 2012 in facilities with screeners (n = 8) compared to 40% increase in facilities without screeners (n = 22). This apparent association disappeared when stratified by presence of “trained pediatrician” whose introduction was associated with a massive increase in notifications while transfer was associated with a marked decrease. In conclusion, screeners were not associated with increase in pediatric TB case notifications.